Full Circle
by workerbee73
Summary: K/L post-finale. You tell her she needs to stop apologizing. One day you know she'll finally believe you. That's the beauty of eternity---there's always time.


**Full Circle**

She goes there at regular intervals, stands on the shore, looking out across the sea. It's part of the routine. Even though time really doesn't have meaning anymore, she has a way of marking it with those little visits.

You talk for hours. Endless hours spent discussing everything from flight maneuvers to the Picon Panthers' legendary undefeated season and who the greatest pyramid player of all time was. She looks at you when she thinks you're not paying attention. Sidelong glances that turn into stares and you know her mind is somewhere else entirely. The first confession she just blurts out—a strangled voice coming out between choked breaths and before you know it, she's in your arms sobbing. Pleading with you for forgiveness. You just hold her as tight as you can and whisper that there's nothing to ask forgivess for. _Everyone makes their own choices_, you say. She got to stop torturing herself about hers.

What you don't tell her is that it doesn't matter anyway. Things happen when they're meant to happen. You know that now. But you can't teach that to someone else. They just have to figure it out for themselves.

You tell her she needs to stop apologizing. One day you know she'll finally believe you. That's the beauty of eternity---there's always time.

********************

You've been here long enough to figure a lot of things out. Some would call that wisdom, and secretly you'd agree, although you'd hate to be thought of as some angelic old man---you'd still like to think you have some game, even in the afterlife.

But you know she's starting to find peace now, and you're so happy for her. Genuinely happy—her contentment making way for your own. Like a deep breath of air you didn't even know you needed.

She teaches the children how to paint. Every day they flock to her, following her around like some pied piper. Especially the orphans—the ones whose parents haven't joined them yet. They cling to her as if they somehow know they've found a kindred spirit. At first she's confused at why the children would still look the same when you can take any form here, but you explain that sometimes it takes a little longer to adjust, and the young ones have the hardest time. Her brow furrows for a moment and she nods. After that, not a day goes by that she doesn't spend with them.

You joke that she's become their patron saint. She laughs and punches you hard in the arm, quipping that she's nobody's saint. But her face falls a second later and she looks out towards the sea for a moment and you can't quite tell but it almost looks likes she's praying.

You don't have to ask about who. She's not the only one who says her prayers.

******************

The second confession comes much later.

She speaks the words softly, almost like it's another person talking, telling you the story of a girl who fell in love when she wasn't supposed to. Of a girl who wanted too much. Of a girl who didn't think she deserved anything. She tells you what an awful person she's been, and how she didn't honor your memory, and how her heart is full of betrayal and unfaithfulness and all kinds of things that don't deserve love. Then she looks at you, wet-faced and pale, and waits for your response.

The old you would have been seething with rage and jealousy and a thousand different emotions too terrible to name. You consider reacting that way for a moment, but it seems absurd. Like trying to fit into your Colonial Scout uniform from when you were five. You hear the words, but it makes no difference, not really. You knew this already. In a way you've always known it; your claim on her heart was always there, but it wasn't meant to last. It was preparing her for something else.

You find yourself speaking these words out loud, then nearly lose all that carefully cultivated calm when you hear her answering question.

"Preparing me for my destiny?" she asks with a catch in her voice. The haunted look comes back into her eyes again and you'd do anything—curse the gods, spit in the face of Hades himself—to make it go away.

No, not destiny. _Gods, anything but her damn destiny._ She's so much more than that. So much more than some stupid cosmic equation, although she doesn't see it.

"No Kara," you speak plainly and slowly. "It was preparing you for love."

She looks back out to sea.

*************************

"Where are they going?" She asks one day, staring off into a patch of trees in the distance. "The people who walk in there… they don't come back."

You smile. "Well, it's kind of like a vacation. At any point you can chose to be reborn a do it all over again."

Her jaw drops open. "What, like reincarnation? Seriously?"

You just nod and grin.

"Have you ever?...."

Your grin turns into a smirk and you shrug. "Maybe once or twice." She looks like a kid on Solstice morning and so you ask.

"You want to give it a try?"

Her eyes light up and she bites her lip as she considers, breathless and excited at the thought of a new adventure. Then just as suddenly, that familiar cloud comes back over her face. "Nah," she murmurs. "Not yet."

**************************

Day in and day out, year after endless year, if she's not with her kids, he can always find her here. Standing on the shore, looking out to sea. Watching. Waiting. Sometimes he'll sit and watch with her and they'll reminisce about old times. Sometimes they just sit in silence and miss him together. You think how funny it is that you've switched over from lover to brother in this life, but it really makes perfect sense. You wrap a steady arm around her shoulder. This was the way it was always meant to be.

One lazy afternoon, you're working on dozing off, your shoulder propped up against hers when you feel her body go suddenly still. You blink your eyes open in the bright sunlight. Before you know it, she's up and running into the water, wading and splashing and nearly swimming to make it to a figure in the distance.

The other figure is running too.

They crash together. His face is buried in her hair and your hear their voices mingle together—trembling, whispering, weeping. They've waited so long. They've always been waiting. It feels too personal to witness, so you look away for a moment to let them have this.

Looking up, you see her holding his face between her hands. He looks just like he always did---same age you remember him, but so much older too. And so tired. He leans into her embrace.

When they finally break apart, his eyes come to rest on you. A look of pure joy---quickly replaced by fear---creases his features, and you know he's suddenly very aware of the woman wrapped around him and what should be a very awkward situation.

Kara finally looks up as well and sees the hesitation. Capturing his eyes with her own, she whispers softly, "It's ok. It's ok." She wipes away the unnoticed tear slipping down his cheek. "I told him. He knows."

His face searches yours, looking for forgiveness, acceptance—absolution. You just smile in return, no longer able to hold back tears as you think about how long you've imagined this moment. How much you've missed him.

You reach out to touch his shoulder, wanting to reassure yourself that he's really there. Finally, you find your voice.

"Hey there, big brother." Breaking into your trademark grin, you tilt your head to the side. "Glad to see you finally made it."

After a moment, he charges forward to hug you—nearly crushing the immortal air out of your immortal lungs and you can't tell which of you is crying, or maybe both of you are but you don't care because he's there and he's real and you've missed him so damn much. You untangle yourself just long enough to pull Kara into the embrace as well, holding both of them so tightly to you you're sure none of you can breathe anymore, but you don't care. You've got them back and you know this is all the home you'll ever need.

********************

And the next time you ask if she wants to go back, she just takes your hand, and then Lee's, and smiles.

--- FIN ----


End file.
